Part One - Jones
Chapter one - The Captain
The hunt started when I first saw the storm gather far off shore in the belly of the sea-a. We followed her north and to my pleasure there sailed the poor ship runnin' for shore hopein' that it would make it in time not to get caught in the harsh winds and down pour of rain-a. Compared to the grand size of the thick black clouds above the tiny schooner looked like a toy; they would not make it. Soon enough in the confusion and madness of the storm the ship broke upon the rocky shore killin' almost all aboard. This is where I came in to take their souls-a.
One by one the good for nothing lot were pulled aboard and lined up, haft dead or on the very edge-ja. I had already lost three of my men to the sea, their years past and done, so I was short hands-za. I was lucky to find this crazy ship. I spoke to the men. Some were not at all convinced from my speech and were thrown over to die as they wished it to be. Still some were in doubt. I told them "You have nothing to lose; you've already lost it all. You've all to go to hell so why go there now?" However they required the small push, "I would never betray you. I am a captain you can trust! Where is this captain person of yours that has sailed you into the shore amidst a horrid storm and brings you to this fate?"
I looked down upon the line of sailors and could easily tell they were pirates. About that time, when the new world was just being populated, these kinds littered the poor ports. They also made perfect victims. I could b spot them by the rich clothes they wore in rages, bright in, clothes that they stole from the merchant ships. They were also so very week in heart. Their faces looked down at the rotting deck, not wanting to place eyes on me, not wanting to loose composer and their only chance at 'salvation'. Yet the captain had not spoken out yet, perhaps he'd died already or was thrown over already.
She stood with her arms crossed before her chest for the rain that poured on us all had soaked her clothes so deep that it pressed upon her skin-na. Her hair was loose concealing her face to me; how come I had not seen her before-a? "You, Girl? What are you doing here?" I stomped over to her and jabbed her in the shoulder with my claw. Her face turned up to me slowly and her sole blue eye goggled at me. "This is no place for you, girl!" She was in fact not a girl at all but a young women of about 20, 25.
There was no sign of fear in face, not that I was aware of, but it seemed more like a look of wonder and surprise, not fear-a. She said "I am the captain."
I didn't take it so easily so I turned to the man beside her and asked him weather she spoke the truth. She was in fact their captain. Never in my long life at sea, thousands of years, have I ever seen a women command more then five sailors in a ship of even that size-za. I laughed in her face. "No wonder it had failed to reach shore, the girl had sailed them to death!"
The side of her lip twitched and her single eye looked down at her feet-ta. I don't remember the last time I've ever seen anything as beautiful as she. Years I've sailed in these ugly waters and watched the faces of these damned sailor slowly transformed by the sea. When ever I was givin' chance back on land there was not much for me to do, considering my appearance, so I would merely marvel at the landscape and the perfect beauty that nature held there. And Oh! There were sweat smells-sa, the rich dirt, the perfume of flowers, the freshness of leaves. However my condition forced me to go back to the sea where all one can behold is the waters and the sky, a beauty one can never hold-da. The one place I found myself visiting the most was the island where my heart lay resting. First I'd see to it that it was safe in the ground, than I'd go into a time of solitude within the old church with sat dead upon a hill.
It must have been her beauty that had made me soft. The very idea of a woman working aboard a ship was mad; however it was clear that she had already done so. I leaned down so that she had nothing to look at but my deformed face before her and I spoke "So you call yourself a sort of a sailor, aye? Well, let us just see how long you can last on The Flying Dutchman, girl!" I roared out in laughter but when I looked back down at her she seemed to be happy. It appeared that she had been watching me laugh because I found her staring right into my face-sa. It surprised me to find her not in a state of fear.
"You think this is going to be easy, girl? You'll be taking the first watch. So start working."